Waiting for You to Come Around
by HarvardDropout
Summary: Noah drove off without even glancing back at the house. Part of Finn was grateful for this, because if he had looked back, then he would have seen a heartbroken man who wanted nothing more than for Noah to love him. Rated T for now, M later!
1. Chapter 1

**While laying in bed last night, I thought up a pretty nice possible plot for a Finn/Puck story. This is just a dry run - if you're actually interested in having me continue this, please let me know! Otherwise, I'll keep this a one shot ;)**

**Title:** Waiting for You to Come Around

**Summary:** It's been four years since Beth's birth and Quinn is completely out of the picture, leaving Noah to raise the little girl alone at home with the help of his best friend Finn, who is completely and madly in love with him, not that Noah realizes it. Will Finn continue to let his emotions go ignored to keep the peace between them or will he tell Noah how he feels at the risk of losing his best friend and the love of his life?

* * *

><p>Finn watched Noah from the doorway as he cradled Beth in his arms. He couldn't help but smile at the man who was known throughout high school and around town as the resident badass as he cooed into the little girls face, planting kisses all over here cheeks and making her shriek in happiness. It was absolutely adorable and warmed Finn's heart.<p>

"Uncle Finn is going to watch you while I'm gone, okay Beth?" Noah said as he put the four year old down. She nodded but quickly twisted her face up in curiosity.

"Where's Grammy?" Beth asked.

"She had to work today, sweetheart. She'll be home later tonight. I promise."

Beth smiled and ran off into the living room where she plopped down onto the floor and played with the doll house she had gotten from Finn for Christmas. Noah turned from his daughter with a sigh as he set his sights on Finn who was wearing a look of amusement while he watched the little girl.

"Thanks again, man. I really need to just get out for a night." Noah breathed. "I love my daughter and everything but I really need to get out of the house for a while and meet some girls. It's been so long since I got some."

Finn chuckled. "It's been a week."

"A week is a long time for the Puckmeister!"

Finn rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. It'd been three years since they had both graduated high school and Noah was still the same as always, except now he had a child. "Yeah, whatever. Now go before you're late for your date with whatever her name is!"

"You tryin' to get rid of me so you can steal my kid, Hudson?" Noah joked. Finn laughed.

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm trying to do." He played along. "Now hurry up!"

"Yes _dear_," Noah snorted as he headed down the long and narrow hallway, disappearing into his bedroom to finish getting ready to go. Finn felt a sharp heat spread throughout his chest at Noah's words, wishing that he'd meant it.

Finn left his post in the doorway and stepped into the living room, smiling down at the small girl. She was a spitting image of Quinn Fabray and was nothing less than precious.

He walked around Beth and sat down on the couch, keeping his eyes on her the whole time as memories flooded the back of his head, mainly those which consisted of Quinn and her unfaithfulness towards him and how heart broken he was when he learned that not only had Noah, his best friend and the man of his dreams, slept with Quinn but that the baby was actually his as well.

_Yes Finn, it's true. Puck is the father._

Finn swallowed hard as he remembered. Hearing those words had been one of the most painful experience of his life. He could care less about Quinn and the fact that she cheated on him, he really could-it was the fact that it was with _Noah_. It was like he had ripped Finn's heart out, tossed it on the ground and walked away without so much as an apology. Finn knew at that point that there was definitely no possibility of a future with Noah because he would never look at him the way Finn did.

Finn rubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand to keep himself from tearing up. It was freshman year that he had realized he had feelings for Noah; feelings that went deeper than just wanting to hang out and play video games at his house on the weekends. It was also freshman year that Noah had made it clear he wasn't a fan of gays by pushing Kurt Hummel around every chance he had, so Finn suppressed his romantic feelings toward Noah in fear of being rejected, and worse-hated.

Sophomore year however seemed to offer a sliver of hope for Finn and his dream of being with Noah when they had joined the glee club and Noah learned to be more accepting of gays, especially since Kurt was in the glee club as well. He had stopped his reign of torment on the pale fashionable boy and focused more on actually protecting him. Finn figured that this meant hope for their relationship but that was soon squashed when the events of Babygate unfolded, causing him to hide the pain by being with Rachel Berry.

"Are you okay, Uncle Finny?"

Finn tore his hand away from his face and looked down at the beautiful little girl who sat at his feet. At first he could barely look at Beth, not when he knew she was a product of Quinn and Noah instead of _himself_ and Noah. He harbored a brooding dislike towards her and couldn't even handle being alone with the girl. That was short lived though, because after Quinn had decided to give up on the child when she was all but a few months old, Finn knew that Beth didn't deserve that and felt as if there was an opportunity for him to possibly step in and replace Quinn. Acting upon that idea, Finn spent as much time as he could with the little girl; watching her, taking her to the park, buying her gifts and even spending holidays with her and Noah. It wasn't long until she had completely won his heart over and he practically saw the girl as his own.

"Yes love, I'm fine." Finn smiled down at her. When she looked back up at him with her big green eyes and a smile of endearment, he felt his nose burn as tears threatened him once more. Beth was beautiful.

"I like it when you're happy."

"I like it when you're happy, too." Finn's attention was brought to Beth's small hands where she had two male dolls clasped tightly in her palms. This caused him to laugh and furrow his brows. "Are they brothers?"

She shook her head. "No, this is you and Daddy in your house!"

"Oh, we live together?"

She played around with the dolls for a little while before answering his question. "Today we learned about mommies and daddies." She continued to manipulate the dolls in her hands. "She told us how every little boy and little girl has a mommy and daddy."

Finn didn't quite understand where she was going with this. "Is that so?"

Beth nodded. "We had to go around in a circle and say the names of our mommy and daddy, but when it was my turn I told her that I didn't have a mommy."

Finn didn't know what to say to that. He knew that Quinn wasn't spoken of much around Beth so he wasn't sure if he should even try and say something. "You have a mommy, Beth."

"Nuh-uh."

"Beth-"

"I told her I have two daddies," Beth ignored Finn's impending words. "She didn't get it and told me I was wrong but I didn't believe her."

Finn felt as if his heart had just stopped. "I'm your other dad?"

"You're just like a daddy to me so yeah."

"You do know you actually have a mother though, right?" Finn didn't know if he should have asked her that.

"I know. Daddy told me about her." Beth nodded. "I learned in school what a mommy and daddy does, and it sounded just like the stuff that you do with me but since you're not a girl, I can't really call you my mommy, so you're my other daddy!"

Finn let one of his infamous lopsided grins take over his face. Had he really meant that much to the small child? "That sounds like a pretty big role to fill. You really think I can do it?"

"Yeah, but I can't call you Daddy Finn since you're not with Daddy Noah." She frowned. "So you're Uncle Finn, I guess. But you're like my other daddy!"

"Maybe someday I can be Daddy Finn."

"That would be so cool!"

Finn's whole body was overcome with a wave of warmth at the precious little girl that sat at his feet. She was so loving, so accepting-so naive. She didn't know about all the hatred in this world and didn't realize social norms. She didn't care that she felt like she had two fathers. She actually embraced it.

"Hey, I'm taking off." Noah announced as leaned down and planted a kiss on Beth's head. Finn hadn't even noticed Noah walk in. "I'll be back in a few hours."

"Bye Daddy!" Beth called out as Noah retreated back toward the front door. Noah smiled warmly at his pride and joy as Finn hustled to meet him on his way out.

"You think you can have her to bed by 9:00pm?" Noah asked as he slipped his jacket on. Finn nodded and zipped it up for him, causing Noah to step back with a questioning look on his face. "Whoa dude, I think I know how to put a jacket on myself."

Finn frowned. "I just want you to be warm. It's chilly outside."

"You're weird."

"Sorry for caring."

Noah rolled his eyes and placed a hand on his best friends shoulder. "Call me if anything happens, okay?" Finn nodded and watched Noah open the front door and slip outside, allowing a draft to come in. Finn shuddered as the cool air whisked across his bare arms.

He stood there at the front door, watching as the only person he ever truly loved pulled out of the driveway and drove off without so much as a glance back at the house. Part of Finn was grateful for this because if he had looked back, then he would have seen a heartbroken man who wanted nothing more than for Noah to love him.


	2. Chapter 2

**So I've decided to continue this and turn it into a full blown story! I've gotten half of the story board in place and later on it will even involve SAM EVANS (wink wink). I hope you're ready for lots of drama, romance, angst, and definitely some slash in there ;)**

**Reviews are always much appreciated! **

* * *

><p>"Thanks again for watching Beth last night, man. I really appreciate it." Noah said for what must have been the fourth time since they'd been at Danny's Sports Bar. Finn just waved his words away as he chewed on a mouthful of french fries.<p>

"Seriously, it was no big deal. You know I love her. Besides, we had a lot of fun."

"Because coloring and watching My Little Pony is totally your ideal Saturday night." Noah snickered. Finn pointed a finger at the dark skinned man who sat across from him.

"Hey, I'll have you know that My Little Pony is _very_ entertaining!"

"More like very _gay_." Noah interjected. "Enough about the cartoon talk-I gotta tell you about the girl from last night!"

Finn's face flushed red at Noah's insult. He felt ashamed, as if the harsh accusation toward the children's TV show was instead meant for him. He reached for the center of the table, grabbing another fry out of the basket. "You know, I've been thinking,"

"Oh shit, Hell must have frozen over!" Noah joked merrily. Finn didn't find it funny. When Noah realized that Finn wasn't laughing along with him, he wiped the gleeful expression from his face and lifted a brow. "Lose your sense of humor or something?"

Finn nibbled on the fry self-consciously. "You _know _I'm a little sensitive with the stupid jokes."

Noah sighed and rolled his eyes dramatically. "Sheesh, you're such a girl."

"Do you want to hear what I have to say or not?"

"Fine,_ Finessa_. Tell me; what have you been thinking about lately?"

Finn glared at Noah as he finished chewing on the french fry. He reached for another before he spoke. "Like I was saying, I've been thinking lately about how you're going out all the time with all these different women-"

"As usual," Noah interrupted.

"And you know, I'm sort of thinking that it just might not be the best thing for Beth to be witnessing, you know? I mean, it's not really a good atmosphere for her to grow up in. Not with her father going out every other night with so many girls."

Noah furrowed his brows. "You're kidding."

Finn shook his head as he reached for more fries. "Nope. Dead serious right now."

"It doesn't matter what I do, it's not like I'm bringing them home or anything. Beth doesn't know a thing about what I do when I go out so why should I start worrying now?" Noah asked rhetorically, stopping his monologue only to take a sip of his drink. "I could understand if I was mixing my night life and my home life together, but I'm not."

Finn chewed at the inside of his lip. He was frustrated that Noah wasn't complying but there was nothing he could really say to counter Noah's objection that would make sense to him without giving away his secret. "It's just not right."

"Not right? Dude, do you hear yourself right now because I don't think you do." Noah said irritatedly as he watched his best friend shove yet another helping of fries into their mouth. Noah had barely gotten any for himself and, at this rate, they'd be gone within the next two minutes.

"Whatever."

"Anyway, about the girl," Noah continued. "She was a total _freak._ I took her out to Olive Garden 'cause you know, gotta wine and dine 'em first, and this chick didn't even want to eat; she just wanted to get back to her place! So we went back to her house without even eating dinner and she was _all_ over me. I guess her husband was out of town on business a lot so they didn't fuck much 'cause she was _so_ tight, like a virgin, but she was horny as-"

"Stop, just stop it!" Finn practically shouted as he covered his ears. "That's disgusting, I don't want to hear about that shit!"

Noah was floored. "Disgusting? Finn, what is wrong with you?"

"I just don't want to hear about you fucking some girl, okay? That's sick!" Finn lied. Little did Noah know that jealously was flowing through his veins at the moment. Finn didn't want to have to think about Noah giving himself to someone other than him. He's had to put up with hearing enough stories already and he wasn't sure he could handle another one. He just couldn't pretend to be interested anymore. "Seriously, have some self respect."

Noah snorted with laughter. "I know what your problem is, and it's not my fault you're just jealous that I can get all the girls I want and you're still a virgin."

Finn's face grew hot with embarrassment. "I've had my chances."

"Then why do you still have the v-card, huh?" Noah asked smugly.

"Because I'm saving it for someone." Finn's answer was barely above a whisper. He wanted so badly to admit just who he was saving himself for, but he kept that information to himself.

"Which is gay. You're twenty-two years old, dude. Get rid of it."

"Would you stop with the insults?" Finn asked sharply as he reached for another fry. Noah swatted his hand away from the basket and Finn recoiled with an "Ouch."

"Fine, how about some constructive criticism then? I'll start with letting you know that you're never going to get laid if you don't stop stuffing your face with every god damned thing in sight. Hit up the gym, lose the flab. The weight machines aren't gonna bite you, you know."

"Can I get you two anything else?" a barmaid asked as she took Noah's and Finn's empty glasses.

"Another order of fries would be good since my buddy over here _inhaled_ them all." Noah suggested.

Finn wanted to crawl under a rock and never come out. Since there weren't any rocks large enough around him he opted for fumbling with his hands underneath the table, making sure to keep his sights anywhere but on the practically empty basket of fries and Noah.

"Someone has an appetite, huh?" she asked as she gave Finn a warm smile. Finn just blushed in turn. "You were having a Coke, right cutie?"

"Yes, please."

"Alright then, I'll be right back with your refills and that order of fries." she stated before heading off behind the bar with the empty glasses. Noah's eyes followed her the whole time, a devious grin playing at his lips.

"Well shit, if she thinks you're a cutie then I'm a fucking stud. I've got this one in the bag," Noah stated cockily before standing up and walking over to the bar, leaving Finn to feel alone and rejected at the table.

Finn waiting about fifteen minutes for Noah to return back to the table but he didn't. Not even the barmaid remembered to bring Finn his refill for she was to caught up in Noah's flirting. Finn watched from afar as his best friend and the guy of his dreams hit on someone who wasn't him. He felt a dull ache in his chest near his heart; Noah was crushing his soul and he didn't even know it.

Time continued to pass while Finn watched Noah longingly from the table. As much as he wished for him to, not once did he turn around to acknowledge him. Eventually, feeling completely forgotten about, Finn stood up and left a ten dollar bill on the table then headed for the front door of the bar, not looking back to see if Noah had finally noticed him because deep down he knew that he didn't and that he never would notice him.

Not in the way that Finn wanted him to, anyway.


	3. Chapter 3

Finn was hurt.

He didn't understand why Noah couldn't see what he had in front of him. He couldn't believe that Noah was so blind to the fact that Finn loved him so much-more than himself, actually.

He knew that Noah wasn't exactly the romantic type-he didn't have plans that involved settling down, coming home to find dinner ready and his family that was eagerly waiting for his return. He also knew that he'd much rather gouge his eyes out before being faithful to just one woman, but Finn hoped that just _maybe_ if Noah would give him a chance and found out what he's missing, he'd change his ways, at least for Finn.

Finn made a sharp right turn into his driveway, slamming on the brakes before he collided with a black Navigator that had already taken up his usual parking spot.

Kurt was here.

Finn wiped his eyes, hoping to make it seem less obvious that he'd been tearing up on the drive home. He silently thanked the heavens that it was dark outside and that the only source of light was coming from his front porch.

He killed the ignition and stepped out of his car. Before he could make it up the path to the front door, Kurt had already met him halfway. In the dim light he could see Kurt was wearing a cheerful expression.

"There you are," Kurt gushed as if it were some sort of miracle. "I've been waiting here for you for the past twenty minutes! Did you forget that I was going to come by and pick up those old clothes?"

Finn mentally slapped himself. "Shit, I'm sorry. I um, I sort of had last minute plans to meet up with Noah at Danny's and I totally forgot about it."

"It's alright. The weather is nice tonight so I wont have to nag your ears off for being so late like I would any other time."

"Well I have them all packed up and ready to go. They're in the living room."

Kurt followed Finn as they made their way to the front porch where Finn fumbled for a moment with the keys before successfully unlocking the door. Together they headed for the living room that was decorated in shades of green and cream. It wasn't really Finn's first choice seeing as his idea was to have fire-engine red walls and blue plaid couches, but Kurt wasn't having any of that. It became evident how horrible Finn was at decorating when they had shared a basement bedroom at the Hudmel house, and he was sure that when Finn moved out on his own his house would be a hot mess. The day that Finn asked Kurt to tag along while furniture shopping is the day Kurt vowed to never allow Finn to decorate by himself.

It was because of Kurt that Finn's place looked as if it belonged to a mid-thirties suburban couple, consisting of a stay-at-home wife who had an impeccable taste in design and style (Kurt and his choice in furniture and wallpaper) and a husband who refused to grow up and understand that he has to pay bills instead of living out his wild fantasy of being a drummer in an Aerosmith cover band (Finn and his fridge full of pizza rolls and his video games strewn about the living room coffee table).

"Didn't I tell you to get your drums out of the living room? You're not a teenager anymore." Kurt scowled when he set his sights on Finn's blue drum set that was perched in the corner. "And the posters... really?"

Finn shrugged as he gathered up his video games, placing them on one of the shelves that sat beneath his large collection of CD's. "It's my house. You got to decorate it, at least let me have a little bit of my own style."

"Or lack there of," Kurt mumbled. "At least get the drums out of here."

"But-"

"Your garage is practically empty. They'll be fine in there."

Finn sighed. "I keep all my tools in there."

"You mean the tools that you keep at the shop and don't even use? The only thing you've got in your garage is a box full of Christmas lights and dirty laundry." Kurt reminded him. Ever since about a year ago, Burt had decided to retire and had Finn step in and take over the shop. Though Finn was thrilled, he wasn't exactly happy with the hours so he hired his high school buddy Matt to run the place, allowing Finn to come and go as he pleased. "Speaking of boxes, is this them?"

"Yeah. I don't get what Mercedes wants with my old clothes, though."

"I told you; she's teaching a fashion design class at the local community center this month. The more material she has to work with and not feel bad about tearing up, the more options for her students."

"I guess."

Kurt went to lift the large box of Finn's old neglected clothing from the couch, letting out an "umph!" when he realized just how heavy the contents were. Before he could give it another try, Finn was pushing him aside and lifting the box himself. He turned to Kurt expectantly, waiting for him to lead the way to the front door but he just stared up at Finn with a curious gaze, his brows furrowed together.

The attention that Kurt had focused on his face made Finn nervous. His palms began to sweat and he started to lose grip of the box. "Um,"

"Have you been _crying_?"

_Shit shit shit shit shit._

"Pfft, no? What makes you think that?" Finn tried to play it cool, as if he had no idea why Kurt would think such a thing.

One of Kurt's brows lifted in interest and a smirk that practically screamed "you-can't-lie-to-me" made its way to his lips. "Your eyes are red."

"I have a cold."

"You haven't sniffled or coughed once since we've been in this house."

"So? That doesn't mean anything." Finn's voice cracked. He felt his eyes begin to sting as tears threatened to fall when he realized that there was no hiding the fact that he had certainly been crying.

Kurt's hands found their way to Finn's arms, holding onto them loosely. "What's wrong, Finn? Talk to me." Finn chewed on the inside of his cheek as he attempted to hold back the tears. His breath had become ragged and quick. When he blinked, a couple of tears fell. "_Finn_,"

Finn dropped the box onto the coffee table and his hands instantly went for his face, applying pressure to his eyes in hopes of stopping the tears. It worked for a moment until a sob escaped his lips and he covered his mouth in embarrassment, allowing the tears to roll down his cheeks.

"Finn, please, what's wrong?"

He fell back onto the couch and buried his face in his arms. Could this day get any worse? "He hates me."

"What?"

"_He hates me_." Finn repeated, this time lifting his head so that his speech wouldn't be muffled. Kurt sat down next to his step-brother, wrapping his arms around him.

"Who hates you, Finn?" Kurt asked gently.

"Noah hates me."

"Puck's your best friend, Finn. Sure he can be a total jackass sometimes but he doesn't hate you. What makes you think that?"

Finn opened his mouth to answer the question but he was hesitant. Should he tell Kurt? What would Kurt think? Would Kurt tell anybody? Would Kurt _laugh?_ "Well he doesn't love me and that's worse than being hated." Finn said, his unvoiced thoughts coming out like word vomit. "I just want him to love me."

Kurt pulled away from Finn and stared at him with wide eyes and a dropped jaw. Had he heard his step-brother, who was _straight_, basically admit that he had feelings for Noah? "I've got to be dreaming. I could have sworn you said-"

"I love him," Finn interrupted, "and I'm done hiding it. I'm not going to keep it a secret anymore. I've got to let him know."

Kurt could not process the current chain of events quick enough. "While I'd love to spend a few moments elaborating on the fact that you've been a closet case all this time and that you've got feelings for _thee_ Noah Puckerman, I'm going to have to push all of that aside and tell you straight out that you're absolutely insane and you should _definitely_ continue to keep that a secret!"

"Why? Don't you like, watch all those romantic comedy movies where best friends fall in love and stuff?" Finn asked, wiping his eyes. "I figured you out of everyone would understand."

"I do understand, I really do!" Kurt exclaimed. "It's just, there's a huge problem."

"What?"

"You're in love with Puck."

Finn didn't understand. "How is that a problem?"

Kurt practically choked on his own spit. "Are you kidding? You and I both know that Puck totally thinks love is stupid first of all. Second of all, he's the straightest man on this side of the planet."

"Well maybe-"

"There's no maybe. He's straight, there's not chancing it." Kurt explained. "Even if you did tell him, you'd ruin everything you've got with him already. Your friendship would cease to exist and there's no doubt he'd hate your guts."

"Well aren't you inspiring."

"I'm just trying to help you by telling you the cold hard truth."

Finn looked down at the floor, trying to hide his less-than-hopeful expression. "So I really should just, like, leave it alone? Try to forget about it?"

"To the best of your abilities, yes." Kurt stood up and motioned to the box of Finn's old clothes. "Help me get this out to my car. I hate to run off right after I find out my step-brother is _gay_, but Blaine and I have reservations at Le Bleu's and he'll kill me if I'm late. You can count on me giving you a late night phone call to talk about this, though!"

Finn obliged with Kurt's demands, following him out to his car with the box in hand as he thought about what Kurt had just told him about keeping his feelings to himself. Unfortunately though, his mind was already made up on what he was actually going to do, despite what he allowed Kurt to believe.

* * *

><p>"Thanks for the ride home, Puck."<p>

"No problem. Thanks for the quality time." Noah winked at Melany, the blonde barmaid who he'd given a lift home after chatting her up for the duration of her shift. She giggled and stepped out of the car.

"So will I see you again?" she asked. "Maybe we can do those things we were talking about... who knows, maybe even invite your friend along, too. He was cute. Where did he go, by the way?"

Noah shrugged as he started his car back up. "I dunno. He's probably just being his usual moody self, but it's whatever. I doubt he'd be up for our little 'adventure' since he's such a prude but I'm definitely still interested."

Melany grinned. "Good. Well I'll see you around?"

"For sure."

Noah gave the woman a nod before taking off down the road like a bat out of Hell. Checking his rear view mirror, he noticed Melany standing on the sidewalk back where he left her, watching him leave. He smirked.

_I've still got it._

It wasn't long until his car was parked outside of his own house and he was walking up to the front door. Thoughts of the evenings events flooded through his head, mainly those which involved Finn and his more than awkward attitude today. What had been Finn's issue? Especially when he had brought up Noah and his ways with women. If Finn were a girl, Noah would definitely assume that Finn was just jealous and wanted him. That couldn't of been the case though, since Finn was _obviously_ a dude.

_He's just jealous of the fact that I can get any woman I want. That's all. Shit, if he wasn't such a pansy pushover he'd be able to pull some chicks, too!_

"Have you been drinking tonight?" Mrs. Puckerman, Noah's mother, asked when he walked in through the front door. Noah scoffed and rolled his eyes, throwing off his jacket and hanging it up.

"Of course not, otherwise I wouldn't be driving." Noah assured her. "I'm a badass, not an idiot."

Mrs. Puckerman laughed and scuttled into the kitchen where she hovered over the sink, washing dishes from the day's meals. "I'm just making sure. I am your mom, after all."

"Where's Beth at?" Noah asked when he realized that it was far to quiet in the house.

"She's in her room, waiting for her father to come and tuck her in. She went to bed about fifteen minutes ago."

Not another word was spoken before Noah hurried down the narrow hallway to his daughters bedroom, feeling horrible that he had forgotten about his usual 9:00pm bedtime tuck-in with Beth. He slowly opened the door, being careful to avoid as much noise as possible in case Beth had already fallen asleep, however, Beth was sitting patiently on her bed, her legs swinging back and forth eagerly. Her face lit up when she saw Noah.

"Daddy, Daddy!" Beth shouted merrily, jumping from her spot on the bed and running over to Noah where she gripped onto his legs. Noah laughed and leaned down, picking his little girl up. He planted a few kisses on her head.

"I'm sorry I'm late sweetie. I um, I had a lot of work to do at the office." Noah lied, suddenly feeling even worse about everything. Finn's words played in his head, the ones that criticized him about having Beth exposed to an atmosphere in which Noah was going out with multiple women. Perhaps Finn was just looking out for his favorite "niece", after all. Noah tried to hide his worried expression behind a smile.

"It's okay, I had toys." Beth reasoned.

"Well can I make it up to you? How about some ice cream, or a new dollhouse?"

The little girl shook her head. "I wanna go to the park tomorrow!"

_That doesn't sound bad. Give her a day off from preschool and take her to the park. Seems like fun. Maybe we can even get some ice cream afterwards. _

"Sure, we can do that," Noah agreed as he toted his daughter to her bed. He laid her down and tucked her in, giving her one last kiss on the forehead. "You need to get some sleep though."

"Daddy?"

"Yeah?"

"Can Uncle Finn come with us?"

Noah nodded. He figured that it would give him a chance to muster up some sort of apology to give to his best friend. After all, he did more or less call him fat, and Finn _was_ always shy about his weight. "Sure. I don't see why not."


	4. Chapter 4

It was about three o'clock in the afternoon when there was a knock at the front door, interrupting Finn's episode of Parks and Recreation on television. Clad in just a pair of dark blue boxers, he answered the door to find his best friend standing on the front porch.

"Um, hey."

"Do you just sit around your house naked all day or what?" Noah asked. "God forbid if I was a Girl Scout; I'd be traumatized."

Finn nervously crossed his arms over his chest in attempt to hide his bare upper body. "No, I just woke up about a half an hour ago. I stayed up late last night. Couldn't sleep."

Noah's perked brow fell and his hard expression softened when he realized he had just offended Finn even further when he came to do the exact opposite. "Well, whatever. I just wanted to apologize about last night. The things I said to you... they were kind of mean of me, and I hope you know I didn't mean that you were _fat_. Just a little pudgy, but hey, I guess you pull it off well."

A small lopsided grin began to form on Finn's lips. "Really?"

"Uh, sure?"

"Thanks. Oh hey, those glasses look good on you." Finn exclaimed as he took notice of the black-framed glasses that Noah was wearing. Noah rolled his eyes.

"I'm only wearing them because I can't find my contacts."

"Well you should lose your contacts more often."

"Awkward." Noah breathed. "Now come on, Beth's waiting."

Finn cocked his head to the side. "Where are we going? I'm not even dressed!"

"Beth wants you to come to the park with us. Now hurry up and go put some clothes on, I'll be in the car waiting with Beth." Noah sighed before leaving Finn to stand in the doorway while he headed for his car. From the backseat, Beth was waving to Finn. Finn smiled and waved back before shutting the front door and rushing up the stairs to get dressed.

* * *

><p>Finn and Noah sat on the wooden bench beneath the large oak tree as Beth ran around and played with some of the other children near the jungle gym. Finn smiled at the small girl while he took a sip of his drink. "Beth is absolutely adorable."<p>

"You don't gotta tell me twice," Noah sighed as he leaned back into the bench. He knew good and well just how perfect his daughter was, despite her father being the infamous Noah Puckerman. He hoped to God that she wouldn't turn out to be like him when she grew older. In fact, he hoped for her to turn out to be the complete opposite.

"I don't know how you managed it, man."

Noah turned to look at Finn who had his gaze fixed on Beth. Noah smiled unconsciously. If Noah had raised Beth completely on his own, then there was no doubt she would have become a little heathen by now, setting fires and stealing candy from convenient stores. He'd never admit it out loud, but a lot of the credit for Beth's upbringing did in fact belong to Finn. "I'm a wizard, don't you know?"

"You wish."

Noah waved his hand as if to disregard Finn's disbelief. Beth climbed up the ladder that led to the top of the slide and slid down, while two boys followed in pursuit of her. They chased her all around the playground while Beth giggled merrily, shouting something along the lines of, "Boys have cooties!"

Noah gave a smug smirk. "That's my little girl, keeping the boys on their toes."

"It wont be long until we have to beat the boys off of her," Finn sighed. "I don't know how I feel about her dating anyone."

"Dude, she's _four_. Chill out."

"Still!"

"We'll worry about that when the time comes. There's two of us, we can handle it."

"Yeah, the two of us. Together," Finn said thoughtfully as he gazed over at Noah. Noah just raised a brow at his strange friend.

"_Working_ together."

"Same difference."

Noah was going to respond to Finn's slightly awkward last couple of statements when his attention was grabbed by a woman who was standing near the water fountain about twenty-five feet away from where he and Finn were. The woman had long flowing black hair and was smiling flirtatiously at Noah. He felt a warm fuzzy feeling in the pit of his stomach. How could he resist?

"So last night I was up thinking, and I've decided that I should just come out and tell...," Finn's words trailed off when he turned back to face Noah, only to find that he was gone. After a few seconds frantically scanning the park, he saw Noah chatting up some lady near the fountain. Finn's body tensed up as he took notice of their body language. It was obvious that Noah was hitting on her.

"She's absolutely precious! I'm sure her mother must be very beautiful," the woman cooed as she peered over at Beth who was now playing on the swings.

Noah leaned against the fountain. "Oh, her mother's not in the picture. It's just me and my daughter. It gets lonely sometimes, you know?"

"I completely understand. That's my son on the swing next to her, his name's Nolan. His father isn't in the picture either; we'd gotten divorced about a year ago after I found out he'd been cheating on me."

"What a shame," Noah shook his head. "He must have been crazy to be unfaithful to a gorgeous woman such as yourself."

The woman giggled. "Oh, stop it!"

"Really, I mean it. Hey, Nolan and Beth seem to be getting along great. Maybe we can get together sometime, let them have a play date... while we have a date of our own."

"That sounds like it'd be fun, I wont lie."

Before Noah could ask the woman he'd be flirting with for her information, there was a heavy hand grabbing at his shirt that roughly pulled him halfway across the park before letting him go. Noah looked up at his assaulter to see that it was Finn, his face a deep red while he wore an upset expression. Noah stepped back and looked up at his gigantic friend.

"What the fuck, dude! What was that about!" Noah growled angrily, trying to keep his voice low so he wouldn't interrupt the children that were playing around him.

"No, what was _that_ about?" Finn asked in response. "Why were you talking to her?"

"Uh, because I'm a _guy_ who likes to get laid every once in a while? Duh."

Finn wasn't pleased with Noah's answer and chewed on the inside of his lip as he slowly calmed down. Noah didn't understand what was going through Finn's mind at the moment, but it seemed as if he was thinking.

"I was trying to tell you something before you walked off."

"Okay, what?"

Finn opened his mouth to talk but he quickly shut it again when he realized that this wasn't going to be as easy as he thought it would. He nervously palmed the back of his neck, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. Noah watched in irritated anticipation as he waited for his best friend to say something.

Finally, Finn let out a long breath of air.

"You know we've been best friends forever, right Noah?"

Noah scrunched up his face in disgust. "Dude, why do you call me that? I told you a thousand times; call me Puck!"

"Look, I just... I just don't know how to explain this, so I'm just going to come out and say it straight," Finn ignored Noah's pleas. Noah waited impatiently as Finn closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I like you."

There was a few seconds of silence. Finn opened his eyes to see Noah looking back at him with furrowed brows and a confused expression. Noah didn't understand. Was this some sort of weird way of Finn telling him that he was his best friend?

"I like you too?"

"No, I mean I _like_ you like you. Like, really like you."

"I really like you too, but right now you're being super weird, dude."

Finn huffed in annoyance, keeping his eyes on Noah's. His message wasn't getting across. Maybe if he told him how he actually felt-that he loved him-Noah would understand better... but that probably wouldn't be a good idea. Noah would most _definitely_ freak out more than he could even imagine. For now he should play it safe.

"Noah," Finn groaned as a sad expression overtook his face. Noah's own expression turned from that of confused, to worried, and then finally to shocked.

It finally registered.

"No."

"I have feelings for-"

"No!" Noah practically shouted. "Finn, stop fucking joking around. This isn't funny, this is weird!"

Finn took a step toward Noah, but Noah stepped backwards away from Finn. Finn reached his arms out, placing his hands on Noah's shoulders. "I'm not joking, I'm being a hundred percent serious right now. I really care about you."

Noah jerked out of Finn's grip. "Don't touch me!"

"Come play with me, Uncle Finn!" Beth's voice rang out as she hurried over to where the two men stood in the shade of a tree. She latched her arms around Finn's legs in a hug. Finn went to reach down and hug her back, but Noah ripped Beth from him and held her at his side.

"_Don't touch him._"

"Daddy, what's wrong?"

"I said don't touch him!"

"Noah, come on. Stop acting like this, let's talk about it." Finn tried to reason with him but Noah wasn't having any of it. Noah was confused, angry, worried, and freaked out. Most of all, he felt betrayed. "We can just sit back down on the bench and-"

"We're leaving, lets go." Noah tugged at Beth's hand in the direction of the car. Beth was defiant and tried to run back over to Finn.

"We can't leave Uncle Finn, Daddy! How will he get home?"

Noah stopped in his tracks and turned to look at his ex-best friend. Finn looked miserable and as if he was about to break out in tears any second now. Noah groaned inwardly, knowing that his daughter was right. They were a good half hour drive from Finn's house, and Noah was starting to feel as if perhaps he reacted a little too harsh to him.

_I'll give him a ride home, only because of Beth, though... Ugh. I'm not going to like this._

"Fine. Come on, Finn. We're dropping you off."

Noah turned back around and began towards his car with Finn following a few feet behind, afraid to get too close to Noah in fear of him lashing out on him again.

The ride back to town was quiet, uncomfortable, and more than awkward. Not more than four words were muttered in the vehicle other than Noah's words to Beth which were , "Buckle your seat belt."

Finn wanted nothing more than to have Noah just pull the car over and have a civil chat with him, but he knew that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. He knew that the best thing he could do right now was to just keep his mouth shut in hopes of the tension dying down. Maybe Noah just needed to adjust to the idea more, then he'd be open for discussion. Finn could only hope.

Finn reached for his soda can that sat in the cup holder right when Noah went for his own, causing them to brush their hands together. Startled, Noah jerked his hand back, shuddered, and pulled the car over abruptly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't-"

"Get out."

Finn stared at Noah in disbelief. Was he serious? He couldn't leave him here... not fifteen minutes from his house! It'd take him a good two and a half hours to walk home from here, and he'd no doubt be beat by the time he ended up on his doorstep. "What?"

"I said get out!"

"Noah,"

Noah clenched his jaw and raised his hand as if he was actually going to hit Finn, causing Finn to flinch and fumble with the door handle nervously. It wasn't long until he was able to scramble out of the car and onto the side of the road. He closed the car door and Noah drove off, squealing his tires as he went.

Finn sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to stop the tears from coming. He should have just kept his mouth shut.

* * *

><p>Noah threw the front door open and stormed into the house, dropping his jacket and the rest of his belongings onto the floor next to the counter. He leaned over the kitchen sink and splashed some water over his face in attempt to calm himself down. Today's events seriously couldn't have actually happened.<p>

He didn't know why, but he was furious. How could Finn just lay something like that on him? Better yet, why? He wanted so badly for it to be some sick sort of joke, but he knew that Finn wasn't lying. He wished that he was, though.

_How did this happen? We were best friends, that's it! Nothing more was supposed to become of us. When did... when did Finn become gay? Fuck, this is so weird!_

"Daddy, why were you mean to Uncle Finn today?" Beth asked as she made her way into the kitchen and joined her father near the sink.

Noah anxiously rubbed at his face. He didn't even care that he might have been a little too harsh on Finn earlier. For all he knew, Finn deserved it. "Because, sweetheart."

"Will Uncle Finn pick me up tomorrow for school?"

Noah shook his head. "I don't think so."

"I hope you two work it out. There's no way you can be together happily if you are fighting!" Beth exclaimed before heading off into the other room, void of her usual bubbly demeanor. Noah felt the color drain from his face when his daughter mentioned that last sentence. His world was spinning.

_I need a drink._

* * *

><p>Hours later on the other side of town, Finn was pacing back and forth in his room as he had his cellphone pressed against his ear while he sobbed and babbled into it. He was leaving what had to be the twelfth voice message of the night on Noah's voicemail.<p>

"Noah, _please_ just call me back. I just want to talk. I didn't mean for you to hate me! I just wanted to tell you the truth about how I feel, that's all! It doesn't matter if you don't feel the same way, I just want us to go back to normal!"

"Voice message time limit exceeded," the phone beeped. Finn groaned and tossed the phone across the room, burying his head into his knees.

He'd gone and ruined everything. If he'd of just kept his feelings to himself then they would still have been friends! But he just had to go and fuck it all up, and now he had nothing.


	5. Chapter 5

Noah yawned as he sat up and stretched his arms out, waking up to the sound of a missed call.

Had yesterday been a dream?

Wiping the sleep from his eyes, the memories of yesterday's catastrophic events flooded his mind. It certainly wasn't a dream—everything was way to vivid in his head, and if he remembered correctly, the more you thought about your dreams, the more you were supposed to forget them. Seeing as he couldn't forget a single thing, it definitely wasn't a dream.

_Fuck me._

Noticing that his cellphone was flashing, he reached for it and flipped it open. _Twelve new voice messages_ was written across the screen in bold text. He sighed, dialing his own number so that he could listen to them. He was well aware that a good portion of the messages would be from Finn, but he hadn't checked his voicemail in almost a week now. What if he'd missed some important calls?

"Hey it's me," Finn's voice rang out. It was the first message. Noah rolled his eyes. "Just wanted to know if it's okay to take Beth out for some ice cream before I drop her off from school. Uh, if you don't call back in like, I dunno... five minutes, then I'll just assume you're totally chill with everything. Later!"

Delete.

"Question: How many minutes are pizza rolls supposed to be on?"

Delete.

"So I um, I can't open the microwave and the pizza rolls are like, they've been in there for about four minutes now... they're starting to boil and I'm beginning to get sort of worried. Do you think you can come over and give me a hand—"

Noah deleted the message before Finn was even finished talking.

"Noah, it's me..." Finn's breathing was heavier and his tone was darker than in the previous messages. Noah's stomach flipped. "About today, I really didn't mean to freak you out like that. I mean, I probably shouldn't have even told you that I liked you. I should have known it'd be a horrible idea. It's just, you know, I couldn't hold it in any longer." Finn took in a deep breath. "I hope you don't hate me. Call me back, okay? I just want to talk. Please."

Noah's finger hovered over the _7_ digit. Should he press it and delete the message forever, or should he keep it? Why was he even contemplating whether to save it or not? It's not like it meant anything to him.

Delete.

"Noah, _please_ call me back. I don't understand why you're ignoring me! Okay maybe I do, but still. This isn't fair! I know you're freaked out and stuff but how do you think I feel? This isn't all fun and games for me either!"

Delete.

"I just—"

Once again, Noah deleted the message before letting Finn finish another word.

This process continued for the next five messages, Noah deleting them before hearing Finn out. It wasn't that Noah was sick of hearing Finn on his voicemail; he just felt _weird_. Noah couldn't explain why, but the sound of Finn pleading for mercy just made Noah uncomfortable and horrible.

_Out of sight, out of mind... or something like that. Whatever._

He was about to erase the last message, assuming that it was just another voicemail left by Finn, until he heard a woman's voice.

"Hello Mr. Puckerman, this is Ms. Reynolds, Beth's preschool teacher. I know it's early but I was hoping that I could try and catch you before you headed off to work so that I can talk to you about your daughter. It's nothing bad, just a bit peculiar, I guess. Well if you can, just give me a call back if you have the time. Have a wonderful day!"

Noah furrowed his brow as his flipped his phone shut. That message must have of been from the missed call he'd woken up from. What could Beth's teacher possibly want to discuss?

He stood up and ran a hand through his short mohawk. Since Finn obviously wasn't going to be dropping Beth off at school today, he figured he might as well speak to Beth's teacher in person since he would be the one taking her.

* * *

><p>Beth wasn't happy with the fact that Noah was the one who was taking her to school instead of Finn, and she made no effort in hiding it. She pointed out how her father had forgotten to stop at he favorite 7-11 gas station to get a bottle of chocolate milk and some gummy worms, and had no problem telling her father that he didn't have her favorite radio station on—the one that Uncle Finn would always listen to along with her on the short car rides to school. As Beth put it, her father was "totally clueless about how mornings are supposed to be".<p>

Noah was just glad to finally have his daughter in the preschool building and out of his hair, criticising everything from how he didn't buckle her in to which lane they even drove in for most of the ride. He wondered if she tortured Finn like this as well.

"Mr. Puckerman?" Ms. Reynolds enquired as Noah followed his daughter into her classroom. He gave a nod and a smile. "Well this is a surprise. Did you get my message?"

"Yeah I did. What did you wanna talk about?" he asked. "And what's a surprise?"

"It's a surprise that you're here, in the flesh. Usually Mr. Hudson drops her off and picks her up."

Noah found himself palming the back of his neck nervously. "Finn, Yeah... well something sort of came up, so, here I am."

"Very well. Anyways, like I said in the message I left you, I was hoping to speak to you about Beth."

"Should I be worried?"

"That depends. You see, it's about something she said. The other day in class we were all talking about our families, and she had mentioned that she had two fathers. I attempted to correct her and tell her that she has a _mother_ and a father, but she claimed that she didn't, only that she had two fathers, Mr. Hudson being one of them." The teacher tucked a strand of dark brown hair behind her ear. "Now I'm not here to judge or anything, I was simply just curious and wanted to discuss her home life. If you and Mr. Hudson have raised her to understand she has two fathers, I just want to make sure I don't say anything wrong to offend her."

Noah blinked. "What? No, you've got it all wrong!"

Ms. Reynolds tilted her head to the side curiously. "How so?"

"Beth knows that she has a mom, I've told her before. I mean, we don't talk much about her because she's not a part of our lives, but she knows! And Finn... Finn and I are best friends, nothing more. It's just that it's really only been me and him raising her together. I guess in a way he's sort of taken her mother's place, but like, not _literally_. He's just Uncle Finn to her."

"Mr. Puckerman,"

"Noah. Please."

"Noah," Ms. Reynolds corrected. "Mr. Hudson might be _Uncle Finn_ to you, but that's simply just a meaningless title to Beth. I've seen her draw countless pictures of two men holding hands that have an uncanny resemblance to you and Mr. Hudson, along with her standing alongside them. He obviously means much more to her than what you perceive."

Noah's stomach is doing flips again. He's glad that he skipped out on breakfast because he's sure he would have puked it up. "Then what am I supposed to do?"

"Talk to her. You need to acknowledge the fact that Beth thinks otherwise about your friendly relationship with Mr. Hudson and make it clear to her that you two are nothing more than friends, otherwise she'll continue to falsely believe she has two fathers."

Noah subconsciously tugged at the bottom of his shirt as he felt the temperature in the room suddenly sky rocket. Beth really thought that he and Finn were more than friends? She really regarded Finn as her second father?

He swallowed the lump in his throat. How was he going to talk to Beth about this? She was four years old, he couldn't just straight out tell her the truth and crush her imagination! She'd hate him!

_I guess... I guess I'm going to have to do what I really don't want to do._ He thought as he watched his daughter from across the room. She was talking animatedly with a small group of other children. He knew Finn meant a lot to her, especially after the tormenting ride to school, but he didn't know Finn meant _that_ much to her.

Noah had two options here.

Option 1: Never talk to Finn again and have the dreaded "sorry but Finn isn't your father and never will be" talk with her right off the bat, possibly crushing her soul and having her hate him forever.

Option 2: Make up with Finn and try to resume back to their normal lives, putting the chat with Beth off until he can figure out how to word it the right way without having her hate him.

It was obvious that he'd have to go with Option 2, though he really didn't want to. The last thing he wanted to do was to ever see Finn again, but he was going to have to play nice if he wanted his daughter to be happy, which was his number one priority in life.

"Okay," he breathed. "I'll take care of it."

* * *

><p><em>This is stupid, this is stupid, this is stupid, this is stupid. I shouldn't be here. I could totally just leave right now and forget about this. Beth and I can get by just fine without him.<em>

Noah couldn't stop the thoughts racing in his head as he stood on Finn's front porch, waiting for him to answer the door. He was getting cold feet about attempting to somewhat rekindle their friendship for Beth's sake.

He was about to turn and head back for his car until the front door swung open, revealing quite the sight. Noah unknowingly held his breath as his ex-best friend stood right there in the door way.

Finn was a mess. His eyes were bleary, his face swollen from non-stop crying, and his hair was ten times more messy than it usually was on the man. His t-shirt seemed a bit stretched out, as if he'd been wearing the same clothes for the past couple of days. He seemed to perk up with a hopeful yet curious and shy demeanor when he laid his eyes on Noah.

They both stood equally stunned in front of each other. Finn certainly wasn't expecting for Noah to show up unannounced, let alone show up at all.

"Noah?" Finn asked disbelievingly. Noah let go of the stale air in his lungs, breathing for the first time in a good minute or so.

"Can I come in?"

Finn stepped aside and allowed Noah to walk right past him. He shut the door and followed the dark skinned man who decided on settling against the hallway wall that lead to the downstairs bedroom and bathroom. Finn was about to ask what Noah was doing there but Noah caught him off guard.

"We need to talk."

"Oh, uh... about the other day, right?" Finn scratched at his face anxiously, feeling the small amount of stubble that he had acquired from not shaving for a few days. There was no doubt he looked like shit. _Why did he have to show up with me looking like this?_ "Listen, I'm honestly sorry about that. I mean, there's nothing in the world I'd love for more than to take all of that back. I didn't want to jeopardize our friendship because like, you're my best friend, you know? I don't wanna lose you, and... I especially don't wanna lose Beth. You two are—"

"Dude, shut up. Just shut your friggin mouth," Noah groaned as he rubbed his temples. He wasn't in the mood to hear Finn's stupid apology. He just wanted to get straight to the point so that he could get out of this more than awkward situation. "Here's the deal: I don't want to talk about what happened at the park. I don't even want to _think_ about what happened. The only reason I'm here is to make a deal with you."

Finn looked more hurt than usual. "Oh..."

"Things are pretty fucked up between us right now, and that's a no brainer since you decided to go on ahead and confess your weird undying love for me in _public_—"

"I didn't do that! I just—I just said I had feelings for you!"

"—but the point is that I'm here to talk to you about Beth. I spoke with her teacher this morning and she told me all this bullshit about how she apparently thinks of you as like, a dad to her or something. I dunno how this happened since I'm pretty sure I've never encouraged her to think that way, but... it happened." Noah drew in a deep breath. "You mean a lot to Beth, and it was especially clear to me just how much after driving her to school this morning; that was pure torture! She wouldn't stop comparing me to you!"

Finn allowed a sheepish smile to surface. "Did you forget to stop by 7-11?"

"Yeah, and I _forgot_ to do everything else I guess. I didn't know she was such a hassle."

"She's not, that's just our morning routine. You gotta make sure she sits in the front seat and you've gotta buckle her up yourself, then you've gotta stop by the 7-11 on Main Street so she can get her breakfast—"

"Which is chocolate milk and gummy worms. How nutritious."

"—but you gotta make sure you're in the left lane for most of the ride to school, and you've definitely gotta have 93.3 on the radio. She likes to sing along to the music. We both do, actually."

"Should I roll out the red carpet when she gets out of the car?"

"You know, I never thought about that..."

Noah scoffed and rolled his eyes. Sarcasm went right over Finn's head. "So look: I might not exactly be completely cool with the idea of you having a total boner for me, but Beth cares about you a lot. I want her to be happy, so... I want things to go back to normal. You know, us being somewhat friends, you picking her up and dropping her off at school since there's no way in hell I can handle that everyday..."

Finn's eyes lit up. "So you're saying we're good? And I can like, be her second dad?"

Noah shook his head. "What? Dude, no. You are _not_ her second father and you're never going to be, but I don't want you to change the way you treat her. I'm going to have a talk with her soon enough about her thoughts on us. Just, do what you normally do until then. Don't worry about anything."

"Oh."

"So what do you say?"

Finn chewed at his lip. It wasn't exactly what he was looking for but he couldn't deny the fact he'd rather still have Noah as a friend and Beth as his niece than nothing. Who knew, he might even still be able to somehow get a chance at being a real family with them if Noah wasn't going to just write him off.

Finn nodded. "Alright, that sounds good to me."

Noah smiled, unsure of what to do next. He decided to seal the deal with a hug, but that proved to probably be a bad idea when Finn was practically crushing his bones. He pulled away, gasping for air.

"Dude, what the hell?"

"Sorry, I uh... I got excited."

Noah crossed his arms over his chest as his eyes wandered from Finn to focus on the large collage of framed photos that littered the hallway wall behind him. His expression softened as he examined the images, almost every one of them containing himself, Finn, and Beth. One photo was from their summer picnic last year, another this past Christmas when Beth was opening presents. The largest picture was placed in the middle, depicting the three of them sitting on Finn's front porch steps in the middle of Fall with colorful, crisp leaves all around them. If Noah didn't know the people in the picture, he'd of guessed they were a family.

That's when it felt as if Noah's blood had ran cold. He'd seen the photos a thousand times before, but it wasn't until now that he realized those pictures held much more sentimental value to his friend than he ever thought.

_Oh my God._

"I've—I've gotta go," Noah stammered, feeling lightheaded. "Pick up Beth tomorrow from school, okay? It'd be a nice surprise for her. She'd um, she'd really appreciate it."

Finn frowned as he watched Noah hurry for the front door. He didn't want him to leave so soon. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just... I've gotta go."

"Oh, okay... I guess."

Noah swung the door open and turned to Finn before leaving.

"And dude?"

"Yeah?"

"Stop with the gummy worms for breakfast."


End file.
